Class Action Park Documentary: Inside World's Most Dangerous Park

Filmmaker Seth Porges said Action Park felt like a strange social experiment. Teenagers, alcohol, dangerous rides, and no rules created this feeling.

Action Park ran on kids. Turn 14, you got work papers and joined Action Park, even for lead supervisor jobs. Former employee Daron Fitch said, "Oh, you've been here two years? Here's a radio. You are in charge."

Bob Krahulik, a former lifeguard, stated, "You had 16- and 17-year-old kids with no prior management experience managing a third of the park."

Kids as young as 14 operated rides at Action Park.This happened despite the laws at the time.

Matthew Callan, a former guest, said rides at Action Park came from people with wild ideas who wanted to build crazy concepts.

Ed Youmans, the former Park Operations Manager, said certain Action Park rides were designed in-house by people lacking engineering degrees, and he was one of them.

Filmmaker Seth Porges said these designers were on the fringes of ride design, people Six Flags or Disney avoided. These guys tracked Gene [Mulvihill] at amusement industry conventions.

When each ride went into construction, Gene would change them. Youmans said, "Drastically."

Mulvihill always tinkered with ride designs and construction. He made them more "extreme," more "fun," and essentially, more dangerous.

Filmmaker Seth Porges said Gene [Mulvihill] rejected insurance. He thought people should be responsible if hurt. But he needed insurance to keep operating. His lease included a workaround.

Mulvihill created his own insurance company, London & World Assurance, Ltd., in the Cayman Islands. He then used this company for money laundering.

The scheme ended in a.110-count indictment against Mulvihill, which included charges of conspiracy, fraud, theft, embezzlement, and tax evasion.Mulvihill eventually pleaded guilty and faced an order to give up control of Action Park. Mulvihill became upset with the verdict and broke lease agreements to antagonize state officials and landlords.

New Jersey became fed up. State officials sold Mulvihill the land, letting him run Action Park as he wanted.

It worked. New Jersey grew tired. State officials sold Mulvihill the land. This let him run Action Park as he chose.

For years, people thought a looping waterslide was a myth. Vernon, NJ residents, however, knew the rumors were true.

Mark Johnson, a former security guard, said the Cannonball Loop was a myth for years, looking like something from a Bugs Bunny or Road Runner cartoon.

Producer/director Seth Porges said they built a loop, threw test dummies down, and they came out dismembered, missing a head and arms. They tinkered with things: changing the height, angle, and water pressure. Next, they put humans in. Gene waved $100 bills; any gutsy teen could get one.

Daron Fitch, a former park employee who rode the loop, said Uncle Gene gave $100 to test the Cannonball Loop, making him $100 richer. He found it terrifying; his feet lifted, and he lost contact with the loop for a second; gravity took him.

Fitch said the loop was fun, but it hurt.

The first people through the loop bled from their mouths. After adding padding, the teenage test subjects emerged with cuts.

Teeth from past attempts got stuck in the padding, cutting those who tried the loop.

Mulvihill planned to shock an employee with a cattle prod at the ski lift line to stop thrill-seekers from sneaking on. The employee would act unconscious, warning others.

Former employee Joe Hession called him while he was out of town. Hession reported hundreds of upset parents called because they saw a worker kill someone without a lift pass.

The speed boat area was already dangerous because of drunk guests and fast boat speeds. Adding giant snakes made the speed boat ride a lesson in risk.

Daron Fitch, a former employee, recalled seeing something slither from the high grass while driving a powerboat.

"Oh yeah, there were big black snakes," Andrew Mulvihill, Gene Mulvihill's son, said. Motorworld had lagoons and swamps. Four-foot snakes scared New Yorkers.

The documentary shows rides like the Aqua Scoot held bee colonies that attacked guests who stayed too long. The Aqua Scoot used metal moving parts and unchecked speeds, making the danger high.

"I'm gonna Aqua Scoot the f*ck away from this thing, that was my instinct," said Chris Gethard, an actor, writer, and Action Park survivor.

"I heard the employees learned how to override the speed governor so the go-karts could reach 50 or 60 miles per hour," said former guest Matthew Callan. "They then took those go-karts onto the highway running through the park."

"Yeah, I took a little car on Highway 94," confirmed former manager Ed Youmans. "It hits 60 mph. It was worth it."

"Colorado River Ride may be the most underrated dangerous ride," said Chris Gethard, an actor and former attendee.

Physics ran the rafting ride; there was zero speed control or management. Rapids made rafts flip, jump embankments, or get stuck on poor paths.

"We are holding on, getting slammed into stuff, getting stuck; we have to use our legs to push off. Then we pass an empty lifeguard chair," recalled Gethard. "No one watched anything."

The attraction's chaos made riders lose patience with others, leading to fistfights.

"Lots of fights on the Colorado River Ride over the dumbest reasons. Rafts bumped, and people got out to fight. Some of the worst fights involved people punching each other in the Colorado River Ride," said Jim DeSaye, the former teenage director of park security.

"The Tarzan Swing sums up the culture and atmosphere of Action Park," said former guest/comedian Chris Gethard. "Everyone wanted the Tarzan Swing. It was the No. 1 childhood activity. It tested your mettle. It proved you had guts."

The Tarzan Swing, a rope over a small pond, had design flaws. People could not hold their weight long enough, causing guests to land wrong in the water and suffer serious injuries.

The water came from a spring-fed stream with freezing water. Park employees said the cold caused people to go into shock and sometimes forget how to swim.

An observation deck let people wait in line, giving an audience for any injuries... which delighted them.

"You go, you flip off, hit your head on the water; no lifeguard jumps in. The water is ice cold. You come up for air and you are shell-shocked and probably concussed... then you have 150 [people from New Jersey]"People from New Jersey were among those involved in the Tarzan ride incident.[yelling], "P***y! You b*tch! You wiped out!" said Gethard. That was classiest.

Local police noted most calls came from Action Park. Heat, open alcohol sales, and wild attitudes caused mayhem in the park.

"The average customer at Action Park was just insane. They didn't care half the time. Combine that with liquor and anything goes," said former security head Jim DeSaye.

A beer garden offered cheap booze. Guests had a free-for-all with no cutoff. It sat next to Motorworld, letting drunk guests drive go-karts.

"Out of all the rides, that is the craziest one. It's not the ride attendants' fault. You can't always tell when someone has been drinking. If you didn't stink like booze, they would never know," said DeSaye.

"I watched a guy go off the track and start chasing one of my employees around the field," said former manager Ed Youmans. "This kid ran around like a bullfighter."

The Battle Tanks involved small tank-like vehicles firing tennis balls. Hitting another tank disabled it briefly, making it spin.

"I got a call down there one time and one of the guests got a hold of one of the gas cans. He poured gasoline on his tennis balls and put them into the air canon, lighting the balls on fire and shooting them at the other tanks," said former security guard Mark Johnson.

The Wave Pool claimed the most victims. The documentary states the water played a part; it was a freshwater pool with no buoyancy. The shoulder-height section was called "the death zone" of "the Grave Pool."

"To break a new guard in, they assigned them to 'the death chair,' which was the lifeguard stand overlooking the Wave Pool's 'death zone.' In the first 30-45 minutes sitting there, that new lifeguard saved three to five people," said former head lifeguard Bob Krahulik.

Murky water made it hard for lifeguards to see people needing help. These issues led to...Several people died in the Wave Pool.Lifeguards at 'The Grave Pool' pulled out three to five people every hour.

Former employees say the Alpine Slide caused the most injuries at Action Park. People hitting riders from the ski lift or broken sleds hit unaware guests. Broken brakes were common on the sleds.

The ride was so dangerous that bloody photos at the top reminded riders of the risks. These photos did not stop riders.

The fiberglass-and-cement ride, plus the missing safety measures, caused riders toA young man tumbled off the track.Broken bones, ripped skin, and concussions happened often.

Former security guard Mark Johnson said 50 to 100 people get injured daily. On weekends, that number doubles.

In 1980, 19-year-old George Larsson fell from the Alpine Slide. He hit a rock when his sled jumped off the track, and he died from hitting his head.

A park spokesperson claimed the Alpine Slide did not kill him; the rock he hit caused his death. Thus, the Alpine Slide was safe. Newspapers learned George Larsson worked there, the event occurred at night, and it rained.He was not an employee.Archivist Jason Scott said the incident did not happen at night, nor did it rain.

The documentary showed the park never told the state about the incident.